


Those are Mine

by firstdegreefangirl



Category: The West Wing
Genre: 5sos music, M/M, Secret Relationship, Sharing Clothes, Underwear, Working Late, domestic adorableness, this is basically just fluff, waking up is hard to do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 12:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5666641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstdegreefangirl/pseuds/firstdegreefangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Those are mine."<br/>"We're at work."<br/>"Not those. I mean, those too, but I actually meant the boxers."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those are Mine

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work for the fandom. Loosely based on a 5 Seconds of Summer song (to be revealed at the end!). Rated T+ for mentions of sexy times and a little bit of language.
> 
> I don't own any part of this except the un-betaed words below. Everything else belongs to either Aaron Sorkin or 5 Seconds of Summer.
> 
> Enjoy!

5:00. “Sam.” Josh pokes the other man’s cheek.

5:15. “Sam.” Josh gently shakes his shoulder. 

5:30. “Sam. Breakfast.” Josh waves a strip of bacon under his nose. 

5:45. “Sam. Get your ass up. We’ve gotta go to work.” Josh kneels next to Sam on the bed and tweaks his nose back and forth.

Josh had never given any consideration to the difficulty required to rouse a grown man from sleep until he starting dating Sam Seaborn. Between the hours of 5:45am and 5 o’clock the next morning, he wouldn’t trade their relationship for the world, even if they did have to keep it a secret. But the time Josh spent trying to wake Sam up in the morning made him question just how much he valued the other man.

By the time he finally gets Sam out of bed, Josh is showered, dressed and eaten. Sam groans, rolls over and puts his feet on the floor.

“Jesus! Why didn’t you remind me to wear socks last night?” The only part of practically living with Josh that Sam hadn’t adapted to was the hardwood floors.

“Because the cold shock wakes you up,” Josh replies from inside the closet, having decided that his original choice of necktie wasn’t good enough. “Besides, it’s weird to sleep in socks and nothing else, not to mention harder to play footsies when one party is wearing socks. Thoughts?” Josh emerges from the closet, two ties over each shoulder and two more in each hand.

“Ah—the green one,” Sam points at one of the ties. “It goes with your eyes.”

“Green it is.” Josh steps in front of the mirror and loops the tie around his neck, dumping the others on the bed.

He turns around as Sam steps out of the closet, now clad in slacks and an undershirt.

“Hey, did you make breakfast today?”

“Bacon and eggs on the counter, if they aren’t cold yet. I’m gonna head on in. See you tonight?”

“See you tonight.” Even though they work less than 200 feet from each other, they always promise before leaving for the office. It’s how they table their relationship for the day; go from boyfriend-Josh and boyfriend-Sam to deputy-Chief-of-Staff-Josh and deputy-Communications-Director-Sam.

* * *

 Josh notices by about 11 o’clock that he’s not going to see much of Sam today. He’s spent the morning trying to score votes in Congress for a new environmental bill, no face-to-face contact with anyone but Donna, who keeps the coffee cup full (at very serious pain of death). 

Sam is, as usual, putting words in the President’s mouth. It’s just that today the words aren’t coming as easily. Every hour or so, he dips into Toby’s office, looking hopeful, only to emerge 20 minutes later, crestfallen. Josh wants nothing more than to wrap his arms around the other man and kiss the furrows from his brow, but he knows he can’t do that.

So he dials the next number and scores one more “yea.”  

* * *

 It’s a quarter after four when CJ knocks on Josh’s door. She pops her head in and gets the don’t-say-a-word-Ceej-I’m-on-the-phone-and-it’s-important-finger from Josh. She rolls her eyes and takes a seat.

“Alright, you tell the Congressman, ‘happy birthday’ from President Bartlet and that we look forward to his support. Have a good evening,” Josh hangs up the phone. “What can I do for you, CJ?”

“Sam’s struggling, Josh.”

He steels his features as much as possible, but isn’t entirely sure concern doesn’t override his face. “What’s the problem this week?”

“The commencement speech for Notre Dame. He’s trying to, and I quote, ‘rise above a speech composed entirely of collegiate sports biases, but also refrain from forcing political predilection in young adults on their graduation day,’ and has asked for our help.”

“So he can come up with that out of nowhere, but he can’t write a speech about how great it is to be rising into adulthood? Remind me to give him hell for that.”

“Well, you’ll have to get in line. Toby suggested making a late night of it, getting everyone together for idea generating. You in?”

“Well it wouldn’t be everyone if I wasn’t, now, would it?”

CJ chuckled. “How’s five in the Roosevelt room?”

“Sounds great. I’ll be done for the day by then; Congressmen don’t usually stick around to convenience me.”

“I’ll have Danny go yell at ‘em for it.” CJ walks toward the door.

“Thanks, Ceej.” Josh chuckles and picks up the phone as the door closes behind her.

* * *

The first thing Josh notices upon entering the Roosevelt room is that some blessed soul ordered pizza. Sam, Toby and CJ are sitting around the table, talking about their own college graduations around mouthfuls of food. 

“Our speaker- God, I don’t even remember who it was- spent the entire time talking about how New Yorkers could save the agriculture industry with rooftop gardening. If I didn’t know better, I’d have sworn his name was Oliver Wendell Douglas.” Toby’s usual scowl was notably more playful, but not gone entirely.

“Don’t you mean Oliver Wendell Holmes?” Sam- who Josh noticed looked different- asked.

“No, baby. Oliver Wendell Douglas. _Green Acres_? Geez,” Toby looked at CJ. “Are we really the old ones now?” Josh had to fight pangs of jealousy, even though he knew Toby didn’t mean “baby” romantically; he was just poking fun at Sam for being too young to understand the reference.

As Josh sat down next to him, Sam brushed invisible crumbs off his sweater— **the sweater**! That’s what looked different. When he came in today, Sam was wearing a suit, like he always does. Of course, he usually changes into something more casual to work late hours. Honestly, Josh likes him better in the comfy clothes. He catches Sam’s eye and lifts an eyebrow in silent approval.

“What about you, Josh?” Sam asks. “What was your commencement speech about?”

“When I graduated Harvard, the West German Chancellor spoke. I have no idea what he said because the accent was so thick. Yale doesn’t do graduation speakers.”

“Boy, Josh, you never miss the chance to mention that you went to both Harvard _and_ Yale, do you?” CJ laughed, her good-natured remark causing chuckles from everyone.

“When you pay as much as I did, you buy the right to brag about it. What’ve we got so far?"

“’Good evening. I’m President Josiah Bartlet. It is truly humbling for me to stand again in this hall. Last time I was here, I was sitting where you are, listening to someone rattle off names of graduates who went on to do great things. They became governors, Supreme Court justices, writers, actors, physicists, and I hear tell of one alum who became president or something. But that isn’t the important part. The people who were already here, who already did great things, did nothing greater than paving the way for you.’” Sam reads from the paper in front of him.

“Okay, so, what’s it missing?”

“Roughly 18 minutes of content.”

“Oh. And nothing sports or politics?”

“Not if we can avoid it.”

Silence fills the room as the staffers think. Having turned up nothing from their own experiences, everyone was mulling on original ideas.

“What about having him lead them in the fight song?” Josh suggests, just as Charlie walks in.

“Oh, I wouldn’t. Have you heard him sing?” the young man grabs a slice of pizza and takes a seat.

“I’ve not had the pleasure,” Toby replied. Charlie muttered something that sounded mysteriously like “pleasure my ass.” “Care to share with the group?”

“No, sir. Just, don’t let him sing. Trust me.”

“Oh! What if he talked about how politics-“ Josh’s excited idea is interrupted by Toby.

“Nothing political.”

“Would you let me finish? What if he talked about how politics requires a complete education: math, science, history, reading, all of it?”

“You know, Josh, I think you may be onto something. ‘Regardless of your political orientation, being successful in politics requires a wide knowledge base, the very same one you and I got at Notre Dame.’ Do we have things other presidents did with a broad academic background?”

“I don’t know, but I know my way around the archives. Shall I go have a look?”

“Sure. I’ll come with. Anyone else want in?” Sam said, secretly hoping they wouldn’t.

“Sorry, my allergies are bad. I don’t wanna be in the dust.” CJ said.

“That sounds like a _deputy_ Chief of Communications job.” Toby said.

Charlie got up and left, leaving behind some excuse about the president needing him.

“Alright, just the two of us, then. We’ll bring back our treasures.” Sam said as the friends strode off. 

* * *

 

“What about Roosevelt?” Josh calls, kneeling over a box.

“What about him?” Sam is bent between two shelves, half of his torso hidden.

“New Deal? That took economic skills. And Bartlet has done things for the economy.” Josh walks toward Sam’s voice, arms loaded down with a box of folders and papers. Rounding the corner, he sets the box down and snaps the waistband of the boxers sticking out from Sam’s jeans.

“It did. And he has. Grab the pap- SHIT!” Sam hits his head on the shelf above him in his hurry to stand up. “What the hell, Josh?”

“Those are mine.”

“Not at work they’re not. Josh, someone could come down here.”

“Not _those_. I mean, those too, but I actually meant the boxers. Which are mine.”

“The- what?”

“Those boxers. The one’s you’re wearing? Yeah, Sam, they’re mine.”

“Well, if they’re yours, how did I come into wearing your boxers?”

“I would guess it started with last night and ended with you being impossible to wake up in the morning and therefore running late.”

“And just how did you know they were yours from just the waistband?”

“Ah…”

“Josh?”

“Don’t laugh?”

“At you?” Sam abandons any pretense and pulls Josh into his arms. “Never.”

“They’re American Apparel.”

“And?”

“You don’t think I’m too old for them?”

“Josh, I’m from California. American Apparel boxer shorts are _nothing_. Besides, you make them look good.”

“Well if they look half as good on me as they look like they look on you, then I look pretty damn perfect.”

“You wanna see the rest?”

“We’re at work.”

“Let’s finish up this speech then, so we can get out of here.”

“Sam Seaborn, I _know_ you aren’t suggesting that we slack on our jobs for the President of the United States to go get it on?”

“Josh Lyman, I’m suggesting we stop dawdling and finish our jobs to the best of our abilities, _then_ get it on.”

“I’m so down.”

**Author's Note:**

> So if you didn't figure it out, the 5SOS song is "She Looks so Perfect". The particular lyrics that inspired this are "You look so perfect standing there/in my American Apparel underwear" and "I'm so down". I just started watching West Wing and love Sam and Josh (almost as much as Josh and Donna!). Then I was listening to 5SOS and went "that'd be a cute moment for Josh and Sam and this was born.
> 
> Also, fun facts: The Harvard commencement speaker in 1990, when (according to the West Wing wiki) Josh would have been 20 or 21, was West German chancellor Helmut Kohl. And Yale really doesn't have speakers at the ceremony; their speaker comes in the week before to address students.
> 
> Kudos and comments are my chocolate chip cookies!


End file.
